


What You Know

by Evealle



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Stars and Stripes, Whovengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-25
Updated: 2012-09-25
Packaged: 2017-11-15 00:31:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/521138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evealle/pseuds/Evealle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a question of missing the past, of longing for a future, and, ultimately, of loneliness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What You Know

They watched their friends pair off around them, one by one. Tony and Pepper always seemed to sneak off together for a while in the middle of parties. Donna and Bruce were always going out for coffee or dinner, holding hands as they walked or looking into each others eyes as if out of all the people in the world they were the only two who truly understood one another. The passion between Thor and Jane was openly displayed - and sometimes heard, when evenings were quiet at Stark Tower. Natasha and Clint certainly had _something_ , but anyone who resorted to open speculation as to what that something actually was suddenly found themself punched in the face or missing all of their valuables (with a friendly note on their pillow, “Caw caw, motherfucker”).

 

They mostly stood together when Tony had a party or they all got together to hang out and all their friends started coupling off. They chatted about nothing in particular, often falling into an awkward silence as the other pairs cuddled, held meaningful conversations in low tones, or began to beat each other up. On the evenings that Coulson turned up - when he wasn’t too busy minding the rest of the world and could spare a few hours to come babysit at Stark Tower - he would join them and all three would gripe about Tony or the latest dose of hell by practical joke Clint had found it excruciatingly funny to entertain them with.

 

He began asking her to parties because he hated having to turn up alone at Tony’s bashes for the rich and famous and constantly having Tony introduce him to ‘really nice women he’d probably really like'. She started saying yes because she hated having to explain to her friends why she was single and why she’d been single for so long. It was difficult seeing their picture in the tabloids the next morning accompanied by speculation about how they ever could have gotten together, but going alone was ultimately must worse.

 

She began going to find him in the gym at night, knowing he didn't sleep well, sometimes bringing him coffee and lingering to chat. They started talking about their respective histories. He told her about the past. She told him of the future. They grew accustomed to one another, and spending time together became habitual. They began spending more of it together. They would go to dinner, sometimes for a walk around the city.

 

One night he leaned in at her door, his lips brushing hers for the briefest of seconds before he straightened up, cheeks red, apologizing profusely. She watched him go, the heat of his mouth imprinted on hers. She had two failed marriages behind her (one just an engagement, really), and had finally decided that she needed to accept that she was not going to get a relationship to work. She’d not thought of him in that way. _He’s sort of...strong, like Tom_ , she mused as she watched him walk away. _Well, nothing “sort of” about him._

_She reminds me of Peggy_ , he thought. _It’s her spirit. It’s her voice._

_I don’t want to be alone anymore,_ they both decided after the kiss. The next time they walked through Central Park together, she slipped her hand into his. They stepped in and kissed again, longer this time, and with no apologies following. They agreed that it was a date.

 

The relationship formed, they began spending even more time in one another’s company. He would stay at her flat. They began sleeping together, simply sharing a bed, nothing else. It was the presence of another that mattered, the ability to reach out and feel someone beside them.

 

Neither wanted the loneliness anymore, that was all. The touch made them see that what they thought was lost was maybe closer than they’d asumed. They began talking more, sharing deeper feelings. He finally told her about Peggy. She explained about Mickey and Tom. They related different stories of saving the world.

 

 _She’s different from Peggy,_ it dawned on him. _She speaks in different cadences, in a different tone._

 

 _He’s not like Tom at all_ , she realized. _Stronger, yeah, but his touch is more gentle._

Their kisses grew deeper, embraces fuller. They let the passion consume them. They began to admit that this relationship was no longer simply to fill the void of the absent but to fulfill the desire to fully be with the one present. Then they could say them, those three little words so long waited for but never mentioned. They came to him one morning, forming in his mind, drifting over his tongue, tempting him to think about them. He hadn’t thought about them before, not with her. And as he considered them, just those three words, he realized that they were true. He should let her know. At some point, he should tell her.

 

“Here’s coffee,” he told her as he decided this, handing her a cup. “I love you,” he added without thinking. He hadn’t meant to say that. Not like that. He was going to wait, think about it some more, speak up when it seemed like the right time.

 

She just looked up at him, studied his face for a minute, taking in his suddenly panicked expression. “I love you too,” she smiled softly, taking the cup. He gave a laugh, more an exhalation of breath, full of relief. As they sat eating breakfast together, she reading updates on her phone, he reading the paper, their hands reached out and their fingers laced together. It was time to move on. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song by Two Door Cinema Club.  
>  _"I can tell just what you want._  
>  You don't want to be alone.  
> You don't want to be alone.
> 
>  
> 
> _And I can say it's what you know._  
>  But you've known it the whole time.  
> Yeah, you've known it the whole time."


End file.
